This morning I took a bus from Piura to Sullana. My legs were so cramped in the bus. My luggage sat next to me; it counted as another person in the bus fare. For some reason, I found the situation funny and enjoyable.
In Sullana, a friendly local helped me catch a colectivo car to the Peru-Ecuador border. This truly was an enjoyable experience. Two women shared the passenger seat in the front; perhaps the trip was not so enjoyable for them. Three men sat in the hatchback of the car, facing the rear of the car. The car departed with 9 adults and one baby. My suitcase and large backpack were on the roof of the car. At higher velocities, I could hear the sounds of the straps of my backpack (or something else strappy up there) hitting the roof of the car. With the windows partly rolled down, the sun shining in the desert, and the wind in my face, I smiled almost the entire journey in delight.
There were times in the desert when it was cloudy; I did not find the desert so pretty during these instances. As we climbed in elevation, we drove past citrus orchards. Then palm trees started to appear. The locale resembled Hawaii because of the palm trees and greenery, but we were really in the desert!
When I arrived at the border, the air was hot, humid, and with cloudcover.
I am staying in the hospedaje Conquistador for $10 per night. It includes air conditioning.
I asked the hotel desk clerk if the hotel water from the tap was potable. She told me that the hotel adds chemicals to the water to kill the germs in the water.
Two people told me that the air would cool down in the afternoon. As the afternoon progressed, the sky changed from grayish blue with gray in the background, to gray all over.
Macará looks a little 3rd-Worldy. However, the people here do not leave trash in the streets like the people of Sullana and other northwestern Peruvian cities. The clerk in hotel Conquistador told me that there are no laundry services here; she seems to be right. I found only 1 Internet place here; the fee is $1 per hour. In Peru I paid one third that price for Internet. 